PULLMAN, Wash. – Although USC coach Pete Carroll has made only a few trips to Washington State, he knows better than to discount a visit to the Palouse.

“There’s always been a flair about their program,” Carroll said.

Carroll remembers a thrilling 30-27 overtime loss to the Cougars in 2002 that effectively decided a Rose Bowl berth when USC missed an extra point and field goal. And two years ago, the plucky Cougars were at the Trojans’ 39-yard line before safety Taylor Mays intercepted a pass on the game’s final play.

Today is not expected to be one of those games.

USC’s penchant for struggling against huge underdogs might make the coaching staff nervous, but the Cougars probably are worse than the 42-point spread oddsmakers placed on this game.

Maybe, but Washington State (1-6, 0-4) is not even Stanford, Oregon State or any other team that upset the No. 6-ranked Trojans in recent years.

The Cougars have given up more than 60 points in three Pacific-10 Conference games and have never scored more than 14. There is some debate as to whether they are the worst team in Pac-10 history.

Not exactly the welcome new coach Paul Wulff wanted when he took over for Bill Doba.

“It’s tough,” Wulff said. “As a coach, you never want to go through a season like this. It’s a first for me. I have never been through anything quite like this with this scenario. At the same time, I also have to be realistic and realize that’s how the season is going.”

USC (4-1, 2-1) used to know what to expect when it came to Pullman when Mike Price and Doba coached the Cougars.

“They always had a really unique style offense and, over the years, an uncanny ability to recruit and develop kids they saw and hit it and made them into big-time players,” Carroll said. “They’ve always had great quarterbacks.”

Now the Cougars just want a quarterback. Washington State has started three different quarterbacks because of injuries. A couple of weeks ago, they held an open tryout with the student body to add a healthy quarterback. Survival is the key word this season.

“We have had a lot of injuries and we have a lot of young players playing, and the combination isn’t good for us,” Wulff said.

Some decent news arrived this week when former starter Kevin Lopina, a transfer from Kansas State, was cleared after suffering a stress fracture in his lower back last month. Lopina replaces quarterback Marshall Lobbestael, who tore knee ligaments in last week’s 66-13 loss to Oregon State.

“Now, we are sitting with Kevin coming off an injury and we are hoping he can help us,” Wulff said.

Does the dour nature of the contest mean the Trojans could be in trouble?

Tailback Joe McKnight (turf toe), offensive tackle Butch Lewis (virus) and defensive end Everson Griffen (virus) did not make the trip, but USC could lose its entire first-team and still be favored over the Cougars.

About the only way the Trojans would be in trouble is if they just stopped playing.

“The biggest thing is fighting the fight of keeping everyone focused and in tune,” Sarkisian said.

That should not be a problem for quarterback Mark Sanchez, who wants to atone for last week’s four-turnover performance against Arizona State. Sanchez was despondent after the game until coaches pointed out, while watching films, that other players made mistakes on two of his interceptions.

“I just don’t want to be careless,” Sanchez said. “I’m not taking (Washington State) out of this game. We’ve seen the scores, but we also know what happened when we played Oregon State.”

There is some concern about an unexpected opponent stepping up and striking the Trojans (a la Oregon State) but Washington State does not appear be it.